NCQA’S QUALITY COMPASS® 2009 UPDATED WITH PERFORMANCE DATA FROM 115 MEDICAID PLANS COVERING OVER SEVEN MILLION AMERICANS

Users can trend Medicaid data over three years for the first time

WASHINGTON—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recently released updated performance data of 115 Medicaid managed care plan submissions to its online Quality Compass product. The data demonstrate the latest clinical quality performance and patient experience for Medicaid health plans. The Medicaid plan submissions represents over seven million covered lives.

NCQA’s Quality Compass is the industry’s most comprehensive database of health plan performance, providing information about clinical quality for 530 commercial and Medicaid health plans. Health plan leaders, employers, policymakers, consultants, regulators and others regularly refer to Quality Compass to make benefits decisions, analyze industry trends and identify opportunities for improvement.

Quality Compass contains information drawn from audited data reported to NCQA through its Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) as well as the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®). Beginning this year, users can trend Medicaid health plan performance for up to three years. The update also includes new data from measures of clinical and service quality such as lead screening in children and pharmacotherapy management of COPD exacerbation.

Quality Compass data form the basis of several state and national report cards, as well as NCQA’s own State of Health Care Quality report, which compiles national averages across more than 25 measures of care, and is scheduled for release later this month. Aggregate Medicaid results will be included in the report, but  plan-specific data is available only through Quality Compass.

Data for 415 commercial health plans were released in Quality Compass in July. Quality Compass user licenses—or expansion of current licenses to include Medicaid quality data—can be ordered online through NCQA’s Web site, www.ncqa.org/qualitycompass.aspx, or by calling NCQA Customer Support at (888) 275-7585.

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. More than 7 in 10 Americans enrolled in health plans are in an NCQA-Accredited plan. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

Quality Compass® and HEDIS® are registered trademarks of NCQA. CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. All rights reserved.